My new Elliptical machine

[User67]

I noticed a lot of you are fans of these. After weeks of moaning & complaining I finally talked my Husband into buying one for me along with an Ab-Lounge which I also heard good things about. Anyway, any tips/advice on getting the best out of my workout on the Elliptical? Saturday will be 6 weeks since I had my baby, so my post partum stage is over & I have no excuse not to workout & get this baby weight off! I was 135 pounds before I got pregnant, I was 175 pounds at my last Dr. visit before giving birth. I was a size 5 before I got pregnant, now I'm a size 9 & I won't be happy until I can fit back into my size 5 jeans.

Ht: 5'4
CW: 152
GW: 130

 

[Miss World]

cool ^_^ I love Ellipticals! they help A LOt when it comes to losing weight and toning.. I'd suggest you start with 10 minutes for a couple of days till you get used to it.. and then start adding 5-10 minutes every other day till you reach the 45 minutes.. I wouldn't suggest going over that time because of what I know, if you do such workouts for more than 45 minutes, you start building mass rather than just stay in the fat-burning "zone".. also, please check with your doctor if you could start with it now. But one thing is for sure, your body will thank you for it, and your lungs will do too!!

if you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask.. hehe I'm addicted to those machines

and my bestfriend lost her entier excess fat from just working out on Ellipticals!

 

[ch33tah]

the best thing about elliptical trainers is there is no impact. this tricks your brain into thinking you are not working very hard, but you really are. so the idea is you can work out in your fat burning zone (55 - 69% of your heart rate maximum) for a longer time.

Calculating your Fat Burning Zone
LOWER END: (220 – [YOUR AGE]) x 0.55
HIGHER END220 – [YOUR AGE]) x 0.70

so for exmaple someone who is 25 years old should be between 108 to 137 beats per minute.

when you are working in your fat burning zone, your body is using stored fat as a source of energy.. so you are literally burning fat. woo
now because your fat burning zone is a lower level of intensity, you can go longer. so anywhere from 30 minutes to 1 hour.
if you can squeeze in 1 hour every day for 5 or 6 days a week, then you will be well on your way to dropping those pounds.

you will need a way to monitor your heart rate. if your elliptical came with a wireless chest strap then wear that and it will display your heart rate on the console. usually there are silver hand grips on machines so you can hold on to see your heart rate.
some machines even come with a program that will monitor your heart rate and change the resistance to keep you in your fat burning zone. you basically just enter your age in the program and it automatically calculates what your fat burning zone is.

out of curiousity, which elliptical did you end up purchasing? did you do lots of research before your purchased? did you buy from a big named fitness store? I'm only asking because I'm a fitness consultant and i sell fitness equipment. I work at www.fitnessdepot.ca here in canada.

=]

good luck.

 

[Shimmer]

Congrats on your new purpose. I have said it before and I'll say it again, a video ipod on a treadmill or an elliptical is a godsend, particularly when you can download something you've missed during the week and can get it in while on the trainer.
Grey's Anatomy, CSI (all of them) etc., make for great vids to watch while on the machine.

 

[LindseySullivan]

I love my elliptical. I have the Precor 576i (a commercial model) and have put it to great use. I hope you enjoy yours.

My best advice is to not let it become a coat rack

And instead of just going through the motions, change it up.

warm up
up the intensity (level)
go for speed
focus on your arms and turn the resistance up
turn the resistance way up so it feels like you're going up a hill and it's difficult
resistance back down go in reverse high intensity then high speed
stick your butt out - like you're doing a squat
focus on just moving your legs - this is kind of hard

Good luck!

 

[ch33tah]

Quote:

Originally Posted by LindseySullivan I love my elliptical. I have the Precor 576i (a commercial model) and have put it to great use. I hope you enjoy yours.

how much did you pay for your machine and where did you buy it from?

i much perfer the 5.46 because the arms on elliptical machines are really useless.

but yeah teh 5.76 is awesome. did you get the new upgraded console? the Experience Series? my favourite program is the cross training. i do the 2nd cross training program for 1 hour and by the time i get to incline 20 i'm pushing resistance 12. it's awesome. such a great leg work out eh?

 

[LindseySullivan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ch33tah how much did you pay for your machine and where did you buy it from? i much perfer the 5.46 because the arms on elliptical machines are really useless. but yeah teh 5.76 is awesome. did you get the new upgraded console? the Experience Series? my favourite program is the cross training. i do the 2nd cross training program for 1 hour and by the time i get to incline 20 i'm pushing resistance 12. it's awesome. such a great leg work out eh?

Ha ha! Too much! I got it on sale at the Fitness Resource in Annapolis MD. My hubby really wanted the arms and I can see a difference in my arms from it - but you have to actually concentrate on using your arms and not just hold on for the ride.

I just got it a few months ago. It's an EFX experience series with an awesome console. I love it! It's funny though since I usually end up doing a manual program LOL!

It was way too expensive, but I've spent as much on makeup so I guess I can't complain - as long as it doesn't become a coat rack! But if you spend that much on an elliptical, you'll feel guilty enough to use it.

 

[ch33tah]

Quote:

Originally Posted by LindseySullivan Ha ha! Too much! I got it on sale at the Fitness Resource in Annapolis MD. My hubby really wanted the arms and I can see a difference in my arms from it - but you have to actually concentrate on using your arms and not just hold on for the ride. I just got it a few months ago. It's an EFX experience series with an awesome console. I love it! It's funny though since I usually end up doing a manual program LOL! It was way too expensive, but I've spent as much on makeup so I guess I can't complain - as long as it doesn't become a coat rack! But if you spend that much on an elliptical, you'll feel guilty enough to use it.

how much did you spend on it????

 

[Indigowaters]

I just got one too! I know an elliptical works because I used it before. But I slacked off from going to the gym, and now that I moved, I'm not even close to one. But I'll do what someone suggested earlier and work my way back up to 30-45 minutes. Have you seen results yet?

 

[glam8babe]

the gym that i go the elliptical [also called a cross trainer] has a 'start' button that starts from 20 minutes, so i usually do 20 minutes and its soo fun and really works!